Independence of A Hero
by harryramach
Summary: A new avatar of an old story by "Egyptian Flame".
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **Believe it or not, no money is being made through this as all characters etc that you recognize belong to Madame Rowling. Anything else is, most obviously, property of Egyptian Flame and not mine unless stated otherwise. Egyptian Flame does not have an army of lawyers like the aforementioned literary genius but that doesn't mean to say he hasn't got an army…

**Summary**: Realization dawns on Harry following the discovery of the contents of the prophecy. Intent on running away to train, he is unexpectedly thrust a thousand years into the past. Can Harry keep the veil of secrecy over the future while planning Voldemort's demise or will the task be one too many for the Boy-Who-Lived? Follow him on a perilous journey of love, hate, and justice in the "Independence of aHero." An Egyptian Flame production. Certificate 15. All rights reserved.

**Chapter 1: The Missing Link**

The first week of the summer passed like a blur to Harry, all that he was thinking about was his deceased godfather. The emptiness filled his soul as another person close to him was taken away. All because he was foolish enough to follow a false vision. The incident in the department of Mysteries was still clear in his mind, as if mocking him for being alive every second of everyday since his returned to his relatives. Worst of all was that Dumbledore refused to relocate him anywhere else, claiming he was safe from Death Eaters and their master Voldemort.

What about his own mental health? Did Dumbledore think that by keeping secrets from him he'd be safe? In addition, when he returns to Dumbledore's office after the battle, he was kind enough to decide to reveal the prophecy to him just right after his godfather died.

'_I would have studied harder and applied myself to the Occlumency lessons with Snape if I had known the reason for it' _thought Harry bitterly. The Occlumency lessons were a disaster. There was no doubt about that. When Snape caught him looking in his Pensieve, he saw a memory of a younger Snape being humiliated by James Potter, which made him resent the fact that his father was a bully. Harry hated feeling helpless or trapped, which was the main feeling inside him after he heard the prophecy from Dumbledore.

How do they expect him to defeat Voldemort? He is only almost sixteen years old with not enough knowledge to defeat a wizard who spent his lifetime studying and learning dark magic. He sighed and decided to go to the park to have some fresh air. He passed the Dursleys, who were watching T.V and were ignoring him completely after the warning from the Order members at King's cross-station. He was walking past a few houses when he heard a woman whispering to her neighbor.

"Did you hear about the scientist who moved to Magnolia Crescent? He's a lunatic, I am telling you. He kept talking about creating a time machine," said the woman to her neighbor disdainfully. Harry raised an eyebrow but kept walking until he reached the park and sat down, thinking about what was in store for him.

He closed his eyes, relaxing for a little while and cherishing the silence that surrounding him. It was only after a few minutes that he heard someone's footsteps near him. He opened his eyes in alert and fingered his wand, which was in his pocket, and kept quiet. He sat patiently, waiting for the person to come near and hoping it wasn't a Death Eater or an Order member as he didn't want to talk to either.

It was a few moments when the person appeared a few metres from Harry and sat down on a bench near him. He was a short man who appeared to be in his fifties. He had white hair, clear blue eyes, and he was talking to himself, muttering strange things that Harry couldn't help but overhear.

"What is the missing link? What do I need to make the machine work? Everything is calculated and the equations are stable but there is something missing. There must a failure in the equation of…," the man kept arguing with himself. Harry watched amused as the man argued until Harry had enough and went to the man.

"If you relax, you might find the answer sir," Harry said quietly. It was ironic, since Harry himself never found the answer to his dilemma, relaxing or otherwise. The man looked at Harry then shook his head and extended his hand. "Robert Anderson, I'm a scientist."

"Harry Potter. It's nice to meet you Mr. Anderson," said Harry quietly, shaking the man's hand. The man motioned for him to sit down on the bench next to him.

"I cannot relax, not when I'm close to finding an answer to my problem," exclaimed the man, frustrated with the lack of answer. Harry looked sympathetically having experienced the feeling of helplessness many times before.

"Do you like physics, Harry?" the scientist asked conversationally. Harry shook his head since his only Muggle education had only lasted until he turned eleven. They talked for a while about anything and everything, and Harry got to know the man better.

The sun was considerably lower in the sky when Harry excused himself and walked back to the Dursley's home. Fortunately, he had no schoolwork since they would be choosing the subjects for their NEWTs during the summer. Harry decided that being an Auror fell in the category of working for the ministry of magic, which was corrupted from the minister to the lowest clerk. He decided that he must check to see the options available to him other than being an Auror and to do that; he needed to write Hermione a letter.

_Dear Hermione,_

_Firstly, I want you to know that I am very sorry for what happened in the Departments of Mysteries. I should have heeded your warning and stayed at Hogwarts and you were almost killed in the process. I am also sorry for snapping and shouting at you the whole year when you did nothing but try to help me. I was stressed with everything happening around me and with Umbridge's actions against me; it pushed me over the edge. Moreover, I wanted to thank you for sticking by me through everything that happened since we arrived at Hogwarts. You are the best friend anyone could ever ask for, thank you for being there for me. _

_I also wanted to ask you if you have the book that contained the job options since I have decided not to be an Auror. Working for the ministry is not what I have in mind for my future. _

_Your friend,_

_Harry_

Satisfied with the letter, Harry tied it to Hedwig's leg and opened the window for her to fly into the distance.

"This is for Hermione, girl," Harry said softly, rubbing her feathers. Hedwig nipped his finger affectionately then took off through the open window. Harry watched his owl fly away and sighed, wishing for the freedom of soaring through the sky.

From the first day at Privet Drive, Harry had studied his old school books repeatedly until he memorized every detail. The studying helped him keep his mind from thinking about the death of his godfather.

He slept a few hours everyday, waking up screaming with nightmares of his godfather falling through the veil, which brought his thoughts back to the prophecy. He realized that he won't do Sirius any good by crying every night and his godfather wouldn't have wanted him to feel guilty. With that, Harry vowed revenge on everybody responsible for the death of his godfather.

Harry was reading his fifth year transfiguration book when a strange looking owl flew through his window, settling on the chair in front of Harry. Harry untied the letter and opened the seal, which was strangely familiar to him but he couldn't place where he saw it before. He shrugged and took out the letter and started reading.

_Mr. Harry J. Potter,_

_In accordance to the last will and testament of Sirius Black, you are requested at the reading of his will on the 16th of July at Gringotts bank in Diagon alley at 9 a.m. Please note that failure to show up will result in forfeiting the inheritance to Mrs. Narcissa Black-Malfoy and Bellatrix Black Lestranges. If you drop two blood drops on this letter, it will turn to a Portkey to Gringotts at the mentioned time and it will take you directly in front of our bank._

_Smicklehook,_

_Gringotts bank._

Harry looked at his calendar and realized that the will was to be read the next read for a few hours until he was too tired to continue and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. He found himself in the same repetitive dream. This time, Harry noticed something was wrong with Bellatrix Lestrange. Her eyes were red for a minute but as Sirius fell through the veil, they changed back to violet. It was the first time that he'd noticed the change in eye color. He woke up panting and turned the light on, taking in what he saw.

Was Bellatrix Lestrange a metamorphmagus? Tonks was one and she was half a Black. He sighed tiredly and decided that it was no use to go back to sleep, seeing that he slept for three hours. He changed out of his sweaty clothes and grabbed his transfiguration book and continuing his studying. After a few hours of reading, Hedwig flew through the window with a package and a letter from Hermione.

_Dear Harry,_

_Don't blame yourself for what happened in the department of Mysteries, it was our decision to come with you and we knew the risks. It was my fault that the curse hit me and I did not try to dodge it so don't blame yourself for that either. You know that if you need to talk, I'm here for you and if your scar hurts, please tell Dumbledore. I have sent you the book you asked for, along with a few books for you to prepare for the NEWTS_

_Love,_

_Hermione_

_PS: Did you get your O.? I hope I don't fail in any subjects_

'_Fail?'_ though Harry amusedly. '_If Hermione ever failed in something, then nobody would pass it in the first place.'_ He looked at the clock and saw that it was 7 am. He had two hours before the will reading so he decided to shower. He went to the bathroom and thankfully, the Dursley's were not up yet so there was no need to rush.

He relaxed as the water ran down his body, relieving him of some stress. Half an hour later, he exited the bathroom and went to his room. He threw on the best-looking hand-me-downs he owned, resolving to buy new clothes for himself. He was ready to go but he had an hour and a half to spare so took out his charms book and started reading and memorizing again.

He kept reading until it was 3 minutes to nine. He pricked his finger with a pin, drawing drops of blood in the parchment and readied himself to leave. The three minutes passed quickly and Harry felt a tug on his navel before disappearing from his room with nothing but his wand.

After appearing in front of the huge white building of Gringotts, Harry entered and headed for a nearby goblin. He showed him the letter and the goblin motioned for him to follow. They walked through a strange door on the side to a hall which was filled with paintings of some prestigious goblins. Harry ignored the paintings and kept walking behind the goblin until they reached an office.

Harry entered and was impressed with the well-decorated room. The wall behind the desk was made of white marble, which was adorned with two portraits of important looking goblins. The sidewalls were made of other strange material and on it hung two swords and some fancy looking shields. Harry's sight finally settled on the goblin sitting behind a mahogany desk with some papers in front of him.

"Welcome to Gringotts Mr. Potter," said the goblin, sitting behind the desk as the other left the office. "I'm Silverhook and I will be in charge of the Black will reading today. Please have a seat." Harry sat down in the chair offered to him and the goblin took out an envelope from his desk and gave it to Harry. Harry opened the seal and read, the grief coming back full force as he read.

**LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF SIRIUS BLACK **

_I, Lord Sirius Black, Head of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, hereby declare this as my last will and testament. I leave my godson, by the name of Harry James Potter, the entire Black fortune and assets and hereby declare him my heir, and head of the Black family._

_Lord Sirius Black. _

_Head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black_

"You will be the Head of the Black family as soon as you sign these papers," said Silverhook, presenting the inheritance papers. Harry was presented a blood quill, which reminded him of Umbridge and her detentions. He calmed himself down and signed the papers, a feeling of guilt filling him as he officially received his deceased godfather's money.

The goblin gave him another paper to sign which Harry gave a look of uncertainty.

"These are emancipation papers prepared by your deceased godfather," said Silverhook, giving the papers to Harry. It made Harry smile for the first time since his godfather died as he signed the emancipation papers, giving him adult rights.

"Since you signed the emancipation papers, you are now the Head of the Potter family and are allowed control of your family vaults," said Silverhook calmly. "You are also considered an adult in the wizarding world, so you can practice magic, are able to have an Apparating license, vote, and every other privileges and responsibilities of an adult."

"Thank you Silverhook and please call me Harry," replied Harry smiling slightly and extending his hand. The goblin looked shocked for half a second then shook Harry's hand.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you Harry," said Silverhook. He presented Harry with a card that looked like a Muggle credit card. "This is used by the old families to large purchases. Are you familiar with the Muggle credit card?" Harry nodded. "It works the same but for both wizarding and Muggle shops."

Harry nodded his head, took the card, and left the office. He decided to go shopping for clothes, books and other stuff that he would need to start training. He vowed to have revenge for Sirius and kill Voldemort even if it cost him his life. He exited the bank and headed for his first stop, which was a trunk shop.

"How can I help you, young man?" asked the man behind the counter. Harry turned and replied, "I need a sorcerer's trunk." The man's eye widened and he approached Harry quickly. A sorcerer's trunk was the same trunk the fake Mad eye Moody had in his forth year. It was equipped with a bedroom, bathroom, duelling room (practice room), potions room, and a regular wardrobe room.

"Are you sure, young man? It is very expensive and there are many cheaper school trunks," replied the man. Harry rolled his eyes and took out his Gringotts card, which made the man hurry to the back to get the trunk. He returned with the trunk and placed it in front of Harry.

"That would be 6000 galleons, young sir," said the shop manager. Harry gave him his Gringotts card and signed his name. He shrunk his new trunk, put it in his pocket, exited the shop then head for Flourish and Blotts. He entered the shop and started collecting every advanced book he thought he would need on Duelling, Defence, Transfiguration, and Charms. He collected about 300 books, which made the woman on the counter almost faint. They cost him about 15000 galleons and he put them all in his new trunk.

He did not find anything related to Occlumency and Legilimency since they were frowned upon in the wizarding world. His next stop was Madame Malkins where he bought new school robes, two duelling robes and many everyday robes. It was the first time that he would wear new clothes and not the ones previously owned by his whale of a cousin. After purchasing the robes, he thanked the woman and exited the shop.

He looked at the sign before him which read 'Knockturn Alley' and shrugged before proceeding into the alley. He passed by many shops before coming to a bookstore. He slid into the shop and decided to look around for anything helpful. The only books he was interested in were a book on Occlumency and Legilimency, a book on talents and two basic Dark Arts books.

'_It wouldn't hurt to know what I'm up against,' _thought Harry as he purchased the books and left the shop. He was walking back towards Diagon Alley when he noticed a shop that was almost hidden from sight if you weren't looking clearly, and it was a wand shop. He needed another wand in case his other wand was taken from him or he was disarmed in anyway so he entered the shop.

The shop was dusty and there were no wands in sight, only cores and wood. The man stood up and approached Harry, who was still standing by the door looking around in confusion and disgust at some of the cores.

"Are you going to stand there or come inside?" growled the voice of the man.

"I need a wand and I need to lift the tracking spell off my main one," replied Harry firmly, glaring at the man.

"Follow me, then," said the wand-maker and walked to the back of the store. He came back with a potion and handed it to Harry.

"Leave your wand in this potion for a few minutes and the tracking spell will be lifted. For your custom wand, you have to choose the wood and core," said the man, pointing to his collection. "Hold each wood and tell me which one you feel most comfortable with."

Harry held each wood until he found a suitable one and gave it to the man. The wand maker pointed towards the cores and told Harry to hold the wood he chose, which was yew, and send a bit of his magic into the wood. Harry did as he was told and two ingredients glowed leading to the man picking them from their shelves. The wand maker shuddered as he picked up one of the ingredients.

"Eye of demon," breathed the man. "This ingredient is one of its kind, since the demons were banished into another plane thousand years ago. It's very old and has been in my family for years, waiting for the right wand user."

Harry did not even know that demons used to run around thousand years ago and the man started to sound like a mixture of Ollivanders and Binns. The man picked the other ingredient with a shaking hand and put it with the demon's eye in front of him.

"This is a fang of a grim. It is almost impossible to come by and a very powerful ingredient. This wand will be terrifying," exclaimed the man, who looked ready to faint. The word 'grim' reminded Harry of his godfather's animagus form and his heart clenched.

The man applied many spells with his wand on the wood and cores, making them fuse with each other. A few minutes later, he presented a black wand to Harry who took it with awe. The power surge that coursed through him was nothing like he ever felt before, as raw power rush from his magical core to his wand and back.

After admiring his new wand for a few minutes, Harry turned to the man.

"Do you have wand holsters?" Harry asked, satisfied with his new wand. The man nodded his head, took several types of wand holsters and displayed them in front of Harry.

"These are from a Hungarian Horntail hide. It's spelled against summoning and disarming spells," the man pointed at one of the holsters. It was a beautiful black one and Harry decided on buying a pair. "It will merge with your skin as soon as you put it on and if you want to summon it from the holster, just will it out with a flick"

"How much do I owe you?" Harry asked putting on the holsters. The holsters disappeared as he put both wands.

"200 galleons for the wand, potion and holsters, young sir," said the man and Harry gave him the money and exited the shop. He entered Diagon Alley and went through the Leaky Cauldron into the Muggle world. He took a cab to the nearest clothes shop as he needed Muggle clothes.

He arrived 15 minutes later to a shop and paid the driver with Muggle money he transferred before leaving Gringotts and entered the shop. A young woman approached him quickly asking him, "Can I help you?"

"I need a new wardrobe," replied Harry blushing slightly. The woman's eyes lit up and she nodded her head in excitement. Two hours later, Harry left the shop exhausted, about 6000 pounds poorer but very happy and satisfied with his new clothes.

He took a cab back to Privet drive, arriving at 6 pm. He went to his room and unloaded everything in his old trunk, putting them in his new one with the exception of Dudley's clothes, which were sitting on the floor in a pile. Harry took out his new wand and whispered, "_Incendio._"

The power he felt from the wand was unbelievable and the spells did not even leave ashes of the clothes on the floor which Harry was grateful for. He took out the potion and immersed his old wand in it, waiting for a few minutes. The wand glowed red then back to normal, indicating that the tracking spell was lifted.

He tried a few spells with his old wand, since he had to practice control with his new wand before using it frequently. After trying the spells, he read about in his old books, he opened the book about rare talents and began to read. The book was interesting and Harry read until he was exhausted and very tired, so he went to sleep.

_He was in the Riddle's house, in a cell where a very familiar person was being held. Bellatrix Lestrange was chained to a wall and was surprisingly crying. Harry's scar burned and Voldemort entered the room, followed by Rudolphus Lestrange, a woman he had never seen before and Wormtail. _

"_My dear beautiful Bella," hissed Voldemort. "It is time for your yearly Imperius potion."_

"_Oh my dear wife is crying," mocked Rudolphus condescendingly. "Crying for the mutt you killed?"_

_Bellatrix was shaking from crying and fear. One of the advantages of the imperious potion that made it very powerful and forbidden was that it only needed to be applied once a year; it was far more powerful than the imperious curse ever was. They kept dosing her from her sixteenth birthday when she refused to marry Rudolphus and serve Voldemort._

"_Why are you doing this?" she sobbed. "Isn't it enough that you made me torture people and kill my own family? What more do you want from me?" _

_Voldemort pointed his wand at her and hissed, "Crucio."_

_She was tortured until she was in no condition to move, and Rudolphus made her swallow the potion. Her eyes flashed red for a second then back to blank violet eyes. _

Harry woke up shaking from the pain of the Cruciatus and stunned at what he'd observed. He never would have thought that Bellatrix Lestrange would be under imperius, but that explained the change in her eye colour in the Department of Mysteries. He opened one of the books he'd bought named '_Most Potente Potions'_ and searched for the imperius potion. He only found information about the potion and its side effects, but he did not find the directions to make it or its antidote.

**Imperius potion: **

**Use:**It is perhaps one of the most dangerous potions invented. It is used to make the victim's submit to the user's will. The user puts drops of his blood into the potion before applying it by 20 minutes. It lasts a year, which is a very long time for the person applying the potion to make the victim do anything.

**Symptoms: **Change of eye colour, which happens when the victim is trying to fight the potion, and coughing of blood every 12 hours.

Harry cursed Voldemort for ruining everyone's life. He was too angry to work on Occlumency so he decided to leave the Dursley's house. He shrunk his new trunk, put it in his pocket, and searched for anything he would ever need. Finding none, he exited his room and went out of the house.

Harry walked for a few minutes when someone came out of a house the he passed across and called his name.

"Harry," shouted the scientist, Robert Anderson. Harry rolled his eyes and turned to the man. Robert reached Harry and shook his hand, smiling at him.

"Hey Harry. Why don't you come in for tea?" said Robert. Harry was about to protest but the man dragged him inside. Harry readied himself in case it was a trap and was led inside the house.

It was a simple house with the basic living necessities, nothing too fancy or abnormal. It seemed to Harry that most of the scientist's money was spent on something else, rather than furniture or fancy carpets. Robert took him to a lab of some sorts and standing in the middle was a strange looking machine.

"This is the machine I was arguing with myself about, Harry," said Robert wryly. "However, unfortunately, there is something missing that I don't know of. It would have been the greatest achievement in the world for science, but the officials at the research centre kicked me out, saying that I was a waste of resources."

Harry was looking at the machine, trying not to look bored and was trying to stop himself from commenting. He was nice to the man but he hated wasting his time with nonsense. Harry was about to turn and leave when pain from his scar brought him to his knees. Unknown to him, his aura flared and raw power went everywhere destroying glasses but when it came to the machine, everything in the room exploded and darkness embraced Harry.

AN: I am trying to take over this story from Egyptian Flame . If anyone has any problem with it please mail me so that I can see for a compramise.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **Believe it or not, no money is being made through this as all characters etc that you recognize belong to Madame Rowling. Anything else is, most obviously, property of Egyptian Flame unless stated otherwise. Egyptian Flame does not have an army of lawyers like the aforementioned literary genius but that doesn't mean to say he hasn't got an army…

**Chapter 2: Forged Friendships**

Harry's eyes fluttered open and everything was blurry. He could feel the soft bed he was sleeping on and the very comfortable pillow his head was resting on.

'_Wait a minute,' _though Harry, '_Pillow?' _

He tried to sit up straight but his body was in so much pain that he fell back on the bed again.

"Relax," said a voice reassuringly. The voice was unfamiliar but Harry was too tired to do anything about it. The last thing he remembered was pain in his scar and being dragged somewhere.

"My glasses," said Harry weakly. A shape appeared in his field of vision with something in its hand.

"Drink this potion," said the shape in front of him.

"What is it?" asked Harry weakly but suspiciously. The man in front of him chuckled softly and replied, "If I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't have waited until you are conscious. It's a healing potion for your vision, although I don't know why you haven't used it before."

Harry shrugged and sat up weakly, taking the vial from the hand of the person in front of him and gulping it down in one go. Harry felt as if something cold was put in his eye, but after a few minutes, the feeling subsided. He felt his eyes water for a minute, which made him close his eyes. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes and was able to see clearly.

"Thank you," said Harry gratefully, observing the person in front of him. He was a boy around his age with black hair that reached his shoulders, and his eyes were a lighter shade of green than Harry's was. He could easily pass for Harry's twin except that Harry was thin, malnourished, and short while the other boy had an athletic body, toned muscles, and was very well fed.

"Where am I?" asked Harry, finally remembering the incident with the scientist. He hoped that Robert was okay, but as he looked around the room, it wasn't anything like Harry had ever seen. The walls were a light blue, the bed he was resting on was silver and green, reminding Harry of Slytherin's colors. The boy sat down on a chair beside Harry's bed and began to talk.

"You are in my house. I was reading a book when a bang echoed through the foundations of my house and then I found you," said the boy conversationally. Harry didn't say anything and motioned for the boy to continue. "You've been asleep for the past three days and were on the brink of death, but thank Merlin I had healing potions. Your owl is flying outside the house and your trunk is downstairs."

"Thank you for saving my life," said Harry gratefully, extending his hand to the other boy. "My name's Harry."

"It was my pleasure, Harry," the boy said, smiling. "I'm Salazar. Salazar Slytherin."

It was as if someone has poured freezing cold water over Harry's head, trying to wake him up from a dream. However, Harry knew that this was not a dream, and that the blasted time machine worked. Apparently, magic was the missing link in Robert's equation, which was a good thing. The bad thing is that the machine was destroyed before Harry lost conscious, so it would mean that Harry had to find another way to go back to his time.

Salazar noticed the colour leaving Harry's face and misunderstood the sign for fear. He sighed heavily and tried to think of something to say to the boy in front of him. Salazar knew that everybody was afraid of his family, since they produced evil wizards faster than a bird could fly. It was the same reason that led Salazar to pack his things, take a _lot_ of money and leave. It was a year ago that these events happened which led him to leave and look for another house away from his family, who cared less that the boy packed his things and left.

His brother, Thanatos Slytherin, was the perfect boy for them. He had excelled in everything and he was now married to a woman from a pureblood family. Although Salazar was exceedingly more powerful than his brother, he hid the fact very well.

Salazar also knew that if his family were aware that he was more powerful than their perfect Thanatos, they wouldn't have let him leave. All the same, he hated torturing people for fun or practicing magic on muggles because they were without it.

"I know that my family produces evil wizards, Harry. But that's the reason I left them in the first place," Salazar said sincerely. "I don't want to be evil and I don't want to torture innocent people. This is why I live alone in this house."

Harry looked at Salazar strangely, before he understood what Salazar took his silence for and grinned slightly. He shook his head and replied, sitting up in his bed. "I'm not afraid of you, Salazar. But it is the fact that I don't have a way to get back to my home is what was bothering me in the first place."

Salazar sighed in relief. Finally, someone was not afraid of him because of his family. Everywhere he went, everybody looked at him with fear in their eyes that Salazar might attack them, which made his life a living hell.

"Where are you from?" asked Salazar "I don't think it's impossible for you to go back. Don't you know how to Apparate?"

Harry decided that there was no need to hide the truth from Salazar, since he will need help in going back to his own time. Thus, he decided to come clean with the truth and just be over with it.

"I'm from the future, Salazar. About a thousand years to be exact," replied Harry grinning, waiting for what he said to sink in. He didn't have to wait for long because Salazar fainted.

It was a few hours later when Salazar woke up to a grinning Harry. It took another few hours for Salazar to accept that his new friend was from the future. However, after he finally accepted that Harry time traveled, he began asking him about the future, which Harry kept his mouth shut about.

"Come on, Harry. Please tell what interesting things will happen in the future."

"For the last time Salazar, it could change the future and I will no longer exist if my future was whipped out," said Harry to the other boy. Salazar took Harry on a tour of the house, which was not much but was nice. It contained a potions lab, a library, a kitchen, and other rooms.

Harry and Salazar sat down and talked about their lives, their past but Harry left things that could in any way change the future, like the name Hogwarts, or anything that Salazar might recognize.

"By the way, how are we talking the same language? I'm talking modern English but you wouldn't know," asked Harry perplexed.

"It's the wonder of a translating spell, Harry."

He told Salazar that there was a dark lord in his time that killed Harry's parents and tried to kill Harry when he was a baby. He told him about growing up at the Dursley's household, and how they treated him. Salazar sneered as Harry continued his tale, an expression of revulsion settling on his aristocratic face.

"Why would they treat you like that," asked Salazar frowning. Nobody would treat their family members like that.

'_Well, maybe mine would,' _thought Salazar bitterly.

"They're muggles, Salazar. They hate anything to do with magic," explained Harry and continued with his story.

He told him about going to a magical school, which made Salazar's eyes light up at the idea. It wouldn't change anything since Salazar had to build Hogwarts with the other founders anyway. He told him about risking his life to save the school from the dark lord every year but he left out what actually happened or what he saved the school from, shuddering at the thought of the basilisk.

Harry told Salazar the prophecy, something that he had kept from his best friends, Ron and Hermione. He felt as if a burden was lifted from his shoulders and he could finally think clearly about it without having to suffer its knowledge alone.

Salazar sat thinking about what he heard from Harry about his life. He wondered why the fates were messing with his new friend's life. Salazar asked Harry about the way he time-traveled and how he came to be here. Harry had told him that it was his magic reacting to a Muggle invention, which was the cause of him being sent thousand years in the past. He finally told Salazar about being a Parselmouth.

"Parselmouth?" said Salazar excited "Are you sure you're not my descendant?"

"No Salazar, I'm not your descendant," assured Harry his friend. He didn't want to tell him that Voldemort was of the Slytherin bloodline. Salazar already hated his family for producing many dark lords in the past but to know that the most powerful dark in history was his own descendant would be dreadful.

"Only my father, my brother, and I can speak Parseltongue. Only the males in the Slytherin family can speak Parseltongue," explained Salazar eagerly. The Slytherin family had prided themselves on being able to speak to snakes. It was perhaps one of the traits that had made the Slytherin family extremely feared, as they controlled deadly snakes or basilisks.

Salazar told Harry about his life, his past, and his family. He told him how he grew up with his family's expectations of surpassing his brother and being a great dark wizard. He told him how his family treated him when he refused to torture an innocent Muggle for fun.

Harry sat captivated by the tale that no one ever knew. As Harry heard about Salazar's life, he vowed to never fully trust anything in a book or trust the history records as Hermione does. Harry felt strangely peaceful as he shared his whole life story with Salazar, something that not even Ron and Hermione fully knew.

They understood each other better, their friendship was growing fast and strong. It was the first time that Harry found a true friend in Salazar and their trust in each other grew every second.

"We have to get you into shape then, Harry. You have an evil idiot to fight and kill," said Salazar sincerely. Harry, for the first time since Sirius died, smiled.

"It's about time I did something about it, Sal," replied Harry, a glint of determination in his eye.

"Sal?" asked Salazar, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," replied Harry grinning. "I can't go round saying Salazar all day, can I? It's too long!"

"Why not," shrugged Salazar playfully, and returned the grin.

For the first few months of his stay with Salazar, both of them began to run through the woods on one side of Salazar's house. They performed pushups and sit-ups and ran every morning, with the time increasing everyday.

On the other side of Salazar's house was a village where Salazar and Harry bought things to eat. Harry didn't want to live on Salazar's money so he offered his services to help anyone in the village, either helping with some work in a farm or taking care of a pet, child, or any other work he would find. They were suspicious of him at first but soon, they warmed up to him and welcomed his help

He even helped a black smith with making swords and knives, which he found was a very hard work to do. The people in the village liked him a lot but they were still wary of Salazar, although not as much as before. Salazar supplied the village with healing potions in exchange of things he required.

During these months, Harry's body began to develop slightly from being fed normal meals everyday and running many miles with Salazar. He discovered life as he lived with Salazar and performed normal labour tasks like taking care of the garden, cooking, and many other things without the slave-driving presence of Aunt Petunia.

Salazar had a small library that he nicked from his family before leaving to which Harry added his books. They began the first subject of study in their quest for knowledge, which was Occlumency.

When Harry first tried to study Occlumency but he had failed to empty his mind. He realized that Snape had truly made some great damage to his natural shield and though it was repairable, it made Harry's hatred for the man increase.

It took a lot of arguing as Harry continually tried to empty his mind from thought until Salazar had managed help him. Salazar would conjure a white sheet with a black dot surrounded by green ones and tell Harry to stare at the black dot only.

Harry tried to protest but a glare from Salazar managed to do the work. Salazar himself studied Occlumency with Harry but he was able to clear his mind from thoughts quicker than Harry was able to, though he had some troubles with clearing the thoughts of his family.

It took a lot of time for Harry to be able to clear his mind from thoughts and emotions, but in the end, he succeeded in doing so. Between the physical work and their work on Occlumency during the first few months, Harry and Salazar achieved good results.

They managed to organize their minds in a short time, succeeding in the second step of Occlumency and Salazar began to teach Harry one of the things he was exceedingly good at, swordsmanship. The other good thing that Salazar was brilliant at was potions.

Swordsmanship required the discipline of mind to improve, which was why Salazar had waited until Harry learned Occlumency before teaching him any basics and techniques.

They ate, studied, practiced, and did everything together. If anyone saw them, he would think that they were brothers. They studied everything they could their hands on, whether it was potions, spells, charms, Legilimency, Occlumency, runes or rituals.

They managed to master Occlumency after a lot of hard work and began their studies on Legilimency, which was a lot easier with a disciplined mind. Harry taught Salazar every modern spell, charm, or potion he knew from his time while Salazar taught Harry what he did not know of the 'past' spells, which greatly outweighed his modern list.

Salazar taught him about potion ingredients and how and when to put them together, but Harry only learned a certain amount from Salazar and preferred using spells. Both of them were outstanding duelers, but none of them was able to beat the other. They would fly together with their broom at Salazar's house, enjoying themselves despite their hardships.

It was only after a year of Harry's arrival that they managed to finish and master every book in their combined library and Harry had grown strong with a sword, but far from mastering the art. Harry and Salazar celebrated their 17th birthdays together, since Salazar was born on 5th August.

Harry's body became very athletic, toned muscles showed from all the physical work he did, either in the village or with Salazar. Even his friends would have difficulty recognizing him.

They exchanged gifts and Harry was surprised to see that it was the same gift which he had given Salazar, though not the same design. Both of them got the other a magical sword, which was very expensive but since Harry helped the man with the work, he got them at a reasonable price.

The sword Salazar gave Harry was an intricately sculptured solid metal with a dragon handle and a ruby that Harry had previously seen in Salazar's things. However, the sword Harry gave Salazar had a snakehead handle with an emerald inside it, which Harry had to work very hard for with the blacksmith to get.

"Wow," both of them said at the same time, and then laughed.

"What did you do to get one of those, Harry?" asked Salazar teasing. He knew that Harry worked very hard for a few months for the blacksmith but he was touched that Harry had worked extra hard just to get him this sword.

"Just made over 500 swords and 200 knives," said Harry shrugging "It was no big deal." Harry was surprised when Salazar hugged him gruffly, but it took only a second to return the brotherly hug. Both of them had become each other's family in the past year and looked out for each other.

"It is a big deal, Harry. No one had ever done anything like this to me," said Salazar sincerely. "Thank you."

"Thank_ you_ Salazar. You saved me from dying, took me into your home, and gave me the most important thing in my life, a family," replied Harry sincerely. He didn't know how he would be able to return to his time and leave Salazar, a thought that had been on his mind for a long time.

"Harry, we learned all we could learn from the books. It's time to travel around the world, learn new things from new people," said Salazar softly. "There are some tribes who have their own magic, and only teach it to people whom they find worthy. There are a lot of dueling tournaments we could enter and a lot of branches of magic to learn and you can learn different new techniques and styles of a sword."

Harry nodded his head in understanding. There are some things that are not written in books and are too dangerous to be written when used wrongly. In addition, some people preferred to teach their knowledge to only worthy people. He needed knowledge to be able to go back to his time and defeat Voldemort.

Thinking of Voldemort brought Harry's thoughts to his friends. He missed them very much and everyday, he would wonder if they thought he was dead. He looked forward but dreaded the day he would be able to go back to his time. He hated the fact that he had to leave Salazar but knew that he must do that for Voldemort to be born.

"When do we leave?" asked Harry quietly, breaking the silence.

"Tonight."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Believe it or not, no money is being made through this as all characters etc that you recognize belong to Madame Rowling. Anything else is, most obviously, property of Egyptian Flame unless stated otherwise. Egyptian Flame does not have an army of lawyers like the aforementioned literary genius but that doesn't mean to say he hasn't got an army…

Chapter 3:

Another year had passed on as Harry and Salazar traveled around the world seeking knowledge. Their first stop was Egypt, as it was well known that the ancient Egyptians were very knowledgeable magic users. Before they were to learn anything, Harry and Salazar were required to pass several difficult tests and go on several tasks in order for the respect of the Egyptian scholars to be earned.

Harry's hair had reached his shoulders and his body was much more defined than it had been. One of the tasks which Harry and Salazar had to go through was to assassinate an enemy of the pharaoh. Harry was hesitant to do it at first but when he heard the reasoning behind the enmity, it was easier to turn a blind eye and do the task. When they returned, they were welcomed by the pharaoh and rewarded with their training and some gold.

They had stayed for a month, learning how to apply and break wards from the Egyptians along with some blood rituals, which powered the wards, some Egyptian battle spells, and some slight necromancy. They learned how to summon skeletons, banish them and to make them guard but the Egyptians refused to teach them more than that, saying that it would do them no good to play with the forces of death.

They left Egypt more knowledgeable and skilled before heading for their next stop. It was a tribe in Rome who were very efficient in sword fighting. The only task that was required of them was to subdue two dragons that were threatening their tribe and killing its people. However since there was nobody brave enough to handle the two dragons, no one tried to go up against them.

The task was much harder and difficult since the dragons were almost resistant to all magic, but with the cunning of Harry and Salazar, they were able to kill both dragons by the help of some snakes that dwelled near by and by their own sword skills. They spent time perfecting their sword fighting skill with the tribe until they could no longer teach them anything else.

Harry and Salazar took parts in participating in dueling tournaments that were held in secluded locations, and managed to refine their dueling skills to admirable levels. They were held in a coliseum-like building where people came to witness superb duels, whether they were group or individual duels.

One of their stops was a coven of vampires to learn blood magic, since they were masters at this type of magic. It was a very powerful branch of magic and the two travelers wanted to delve in its wonders. However, the only problem was convincing the vampires to teach them blood magic, which was not easy.

Vampires had always thought themselves to be superior to humans, which left a huge task on Harry and Salazar's shoulders to convince the undead creatures to teach them their ways. It was after a lot of convincing that Salazar managed to strike a deal with the elder vampire upon which they would learn the magic.

The task was very hard since the vampires believed that no mortal should learn their blood magic. It was after a lot of exploiting of the weaknesses of the vampires that Salazar had managed to create a potion for them to make them able to reproduce.

It wasn't until the potion was created and tested, that the vampires agreed to teach them blood magic. It was a very powerful magic and a hard one to learn. They learned many uses for the blood magic and were lucky that Salazar managed to create the potion or they would have had to fight their way out of a vampire coven, which was a suicidal thing to do.

One of the hardest groups they had to satisfy was an assassin group called the Black Fang. They were the most skillful group of assassins around and were the masters of stealth, assassin techniques, and knife throwing. They were also the most brutal of all groups. Their test was to walk through a forest and find a house, take the knives that the people left there and return. On the way, one of the group assassins would try kill them, so it was to kill and learn what they had to offer or be killed and thrown to the wolves for food.

Both Salazar and Harry watched each other's back and managed to kill 12 members of the assassins before they succeeded in acquiring the knives and returning. The group agreed to teach them what they had to offer after Sal and Harry. Both travelers had sometimes offered their services to some or individuals in exchange for money or food.

It was in the middle of their traveling year when something occurred that was a blessing to them. They were traveling to where a tribe that was skillful in magic control lived, when they passed a scene that made them turned red with rage.

They found two wizards torturing what it looked like a family of goblins while laughing hysterically. It made Harry flashback to the Death Eaters while Salazar thought of his family. Suddenly, Harry's and Salazar's wands were in their hands in a flash as one of the wizards was about to fire a killing curse at the goblin child.

"Expelliarmus," shouted both of them simultaneously, gaining the attention of the others. The power of the spells was so enormous that it knocked both wizards into a tree, killing them instantly. Salazar muttered what seemed like 'pity' before turning to the goblin family. He took three potions off his belt and gave them to the goblins.

"Drink this, it'll help you heal," said Salazar softly with the help of a translation spell. The goblin family drank the potions and rested for a few minutes. The father of the goblin family stood up shakily and went to Harry and Salazar, limping from tiredness.

"Thank you, wizards. My family is in debt to you," said the goblin, putting both hands on Harry and Salazar's foreheads. Both of them were glowing red for a few seconds until the goblin's hand left their foreheads, leaving both wizards confused.

"This is a gift for saving us. You will be able to understand and eventually speak my language, and learn a small bit of goblin magic, but not much as you are humans," said the goblin in gobbledygook but the wizards understood him perfectly.

They gasped when he told them that they would be able to learn a bit of goblin magic. They were the most powerful magic users when it came to defence magic. Their defences were nearly impossible to break and it would improve their defensive magic immensely.

The goblin took both of their hands and muttered something which left a small tattoo on their wrists in the form of a strange rune. They didn't know what the mark meant but were not concerned about the tattoo.

Their bodies were filled with tattoos back and front from every tribe or people they had learned an art from as almost a sign of graduation. There was a sphinx tattoo on their shoulders from the Egyptians, a bat tattoo on their chest from the vampires, a dragon with a sword in its claws from the tribe they had saved from dragons, a knife with a few red drops under it tattoo from the assassins which signified their training in assassination and now this rune tattoo from the goblin.

"Any goblin will honor you if you show them this mark," said the goblin. The goblin also waved his hand, producing two books written in gobbledygook about the magic of the goblins and one about their language.

Salazar and Harry were stunned since goblins never gave away anything of theirs, whether it was magic or language books. To be trusted with this was an honor to them both and it showed in their glowing faces. The goblin family said goodbye and left as Salazar and Harry went their way.

They arrived at a village somewhere in India and rested for a while before they began searching for the tribe. After eating and drinking, they rented two horses and proceeded out of the village to look for the tribe. They were riding on the horses when they heard someone crying, so they hurried towards the voice.

They found a man comforting a crying woman while some people around them wore grim, grief-stricken faces. Harry and Salazar approached them carefully and slowly with the horses and climbed down off the horses when they reached the tribes people.

"Is everything okay?" asked Harry curiously, looking at the man and woman in front of him. The man looked up at the two young men for a few seconds when suddenly rage and fury overcame him. He turned to them and shouted with rage, "YOU! YOU KIDNAPPED MY DAUGHTER YOU SICK DARK WIZARDS."

The man began to throw balls of energy at Harry and Salazar who dodged every ball of energy which would kill them if touched. Salazar paled and Harry understood what the man was upset and furious about. The man threw the energy balls in blind rage and it was a miracle, and fit physical pristine, that allowed them to dodge skillfully.

"STOP," yelled Harry. "We didn't kidnap your daughter, nor do we have any relations with the Slytherin family."

"We've just arrived and we mean you no harm," shouted Salazar before dodging another ball of energy heading towards him. The man finally stopped and sank to his knees, tears rolling down his face. Both Salazar and Harry were panting from dodging the fast energy balls, the blood rushing back to their face but thankfully, they weren't hurt.

"We've just arrived here and we mean you no harm," repeated Harry. "We have no relations with the Slytherin family other than the looks. Please believe us, we won't hurt you."

The man sat with his people, and Harry approached Salazar knowing exactly what was on his mind. They had left the Slytherin family in England so it was a surprise that someone from the Slytherin family would travel to India.

"What are they doing here?" asked Salazar quietly "We left them in England a year ago, what business do they have here?"

"I don't know, Salazar. But what I know is that we won't sit around while someone innocent is being tortured. We also need their training and it's the right thing to do. Are you with me, brother?" Harry extended his hand.

Salazar grinned, "You're on."

Both men approached the man, who was sitting with his wife and family, and bowed respectfully. They had learned that they had to bow to any tribe leader for respect before saying a word. The man nodded back stiffly and motioned for the two wizards to talk.

"We will bring your daughter back in exchange for food, shelter, and knowledge," said Salazar formally. He knew that Harry would go anyway, whether they had food or not, but he knew that they had to reach an agreement with the tribe leader if they ever wanted to learn their magic.

The man nodded his head and replied, "Bring my daughter back and you will get what you want, wizards."

Harry and Salazar learned the directions for the kidnapper's location, and the name of the daughter, Ania. They then proceeded to find whoever kidnapped the leader's daughter. Salazar was sure that it was Thanatos, his brother, who kidnapped the daughter of the tribe's chief, but as the Slytherin family was huge, they couldn't know for sure. They walked for a few days, looking for a place where the kidnapper would be residing when they finally reached a mansion.

"Harry, you bring down the wards and I will take care of any traps or guards," said Salazar urgently.

Salazar sneaked stealthily up to the guards and killed them with knives and arrows, leaving Harry free to do his work. On the other side of the mansion, Harry closed his eyes and began to feel the wards around the mansion, trying to decipher which ones were linked to the house itself and which ones were linked to the house owner.

It was impossible to bring down the wards that were linked with the mansion's owner without alerting him so he decided on doing this mission as stealthily as possible. He brought down the anti-apparation wards and some defensive wards linked to the house itself, and then proceeded to confuse the wards that were linked to the owner, so that it would think they were animals.

As he finished his work, he panted heavily from the excess use of magic. He felt dizzy as it took vast amounts of magical power to bring down wards of a mansion of this size alone, not to mention it was not easy to stealthily bring them down.

He took out a vial of energizing potion which would give him energy for a few hours, this was essential in order to complete their mission. Harry was sneaking inside the walls when he saw a basilisk lying lazily on the floor. He readied his wand and sword to attack when the basilisk hissed at him.

"_Master Slytherin gave you permission to enter. Proceed, wizard."_

Harry was stunned that Salazar was able to convince the basilisk to let them enter but hissed thanks and proceeded inside the mansion. He caught up with Salazar, who was disabling an alarm on a passageway that lead to the dungeons. Harry nodded to him, indicating that he did as planned and began to help Salazar disable the traps and alarms. Unfortunately, things were not meant to be as a voice came from behind them.

"What do we have here?" said a cold voice, making them both turn. Harry was trying to know who the man was with legilimency when Salazar spoke hissing coldly and sneering.

"Hello dear brother. How is the family?"

"Salazar, the black sheep of our family and my dear baby brother," said Thanatos Slytherin, a taunting sneer plastered across his face. Harry took the opportunity to sneak into the dungeons, disabling some traps in his way before he reached the holding cell.

He found a couple of dead bodies in a cell and an almost dead one in another. He approached the barely living figure and whispered, "Ania?"

The girl looked about 15 years old and had apparently been tortured mercilessly. Ania nodded with tears in her eyes, and Harry took out his wand. He began throwing every curse-breaking spell he'd learned, trying to bring the spells and wards on the door down. It took Harry around ten minutes of continuous casting to finally bring the wards on the door down and opened it with a simple 'Alohomora'

He entered the cell and carried Ania in his arms, giving her the healing potions that Salazar had supplied him with, one after the other. After making sure that the girl was not near death anymore, he carried her and searched for a way out. He found none so he sighed and walked the way he came in from, hoping that Salazar was okay.

When he reached the top of the stairs, he found Salazar dueling his brother and another wizard who Harry assumed was the mansion owner. Harry settled Ania down and took out his wand, joining the duel, and sending curses and hexes towards the mansion owner, leaving Salazar to duel his brother.

Harry proceeded to duel, sending various curses very quickly, and dodging anything that returned at him. When he was exhausted, Harry decided to end his duel as quick as possible. He summoned the man to him, making him fly very quickly and into an effective punch, sending the man to unconsciousness.

Salazar took advantage of Thanatos' distraction when the mansion owner was defeated and disarmed him. He proceeded to walk towards his brother and pointed his wand at him.

"_Avada Ked…," _hissed Salazar but Harry took hold of Salazar's wand before he completed the killing curse.

"No Salazar, don't kill him," said Harry firmly. Salazar glared at him but lowered his wand. Harry waved his wand and ropes appeared and wrapped themselves around Thanatos, binding him completely.

"Why didn't you let me kill him?" Salazar said coldly, glaring at Harry. Harry returned the glare full force and replied in the same tone.

"There was no use Salazar, he was disarmed."

Harry went back to Ania, carried her up in his arms again, and proceeded outside. Salazar followed him, still furious that he had lost the chance to kill his brother. They rode for a day then camped to regain their strength before continuing their journey.

They arrived at the tribe's head hut and were welcomed with a cheer of joy at the sight of the chief's daughter alive. The mother cried as she held her daughter in her arms while the tribe leader bowed and shook their hands with a big smile on his face.

"Thank you wizards. You are welcome to stay and learn our magic, for you are certainly worthy of it," said the tribe chief and invited them for dinner. Harry and Salazar did not talk to each other for a week because of what happened in the mansion.

Salazar was still fuming that Harry had stopped him from killing one of his family members who caused him pain and misery. Harry was equally furious that Salazar wanted to kill an unarmed man who happened to be his brother, even though he was an evil wizard. It was only after a week that Salazar finally apologized and the two were fine with each other again.

They spent a month and a half with the tribe where their leader taught Harry and Salazar how to control their magic and manipulate it. Unfortunately, they could only learn the techniques on how to begin taking control of their magic and pushing it outside their body with enough manipulation. The process had to be practiced until the user gained control over his magic, which was not something to be taught.

Salazar was taught a few potions from some of the people of the village. After a month and a half, their stay ended. They acquired a tattoo, a staff with a snake wrapped around it with its head resting on the head of the magnificent cane.

They traveled for weeks, learning random spells and potions from people they meet, doing arbitrary jobs here and there. They gathered a lot of gold from some of the tasks and jobs they performed for tribes or people they met during their trip.

They went to a very well known tribe in Greece, which was famous for their bond with animals. They welcomed Harry and Salazar into their tribe after they learned that both wizards were snake-speakers. The tribe cherished animals, took care of them, and learned about them and their magic. Harry and Salazar stayed with the tribe for a month, learning about various animals and their nature.

They were taught a different form of being an animagus. Instead of forcing your inner animal to change you into your destined form, a real animal would choose the wizard, become one with the wizard by bonding with them and then the wizard would gain the animagus form of said animal.

The animagus transformations in the future depended on the wizard changing by his inner animal, thus gaining no characteristics of the chosen animal but just its form. After a month of practicing their magic and learning about the animals, Harry and Salazar left the tribes equipped with a new magic that would help them in their future and the tattoos of their forms on their back.

Their last stop was a village in Scotland. It was the name of the village that told Harry that their trip was ending. They settled in an inn, resting from their long trip from Greece. Their journey of knowledge was a huge success as they gathered important knowledge from some very stubborn people.

They were eating breakfast together when they heard two witches and a wizard about their age talking at the table next to them. They were talking about a topic that made Salazar's face light up and excited Harry a little. They were talking about building a school to help gifted children learn magic.

Due to Salazar's excitement, his aura flared around him but not visibly. Only an aura reader would be able to see an aura of a wizard, which is why when Salazar's massive aura flared, one of the witches sitting at the next table cried in agony from the massive light that attacked her eyes. The eyes of an aura reader were usually very sensitive to bright lights.

"Salazar," yelled Harry warningly, "calm down, there is an aura reader here, and your aura isn't helping." Salazar calmed down immediately and kept a tight leash on his aura, making the witch relax from the pain. They went to the two witches and the wizard and Salazar gave a pain-relieving potion to the girl.

"I'm sorry about my aura. I was excited about something and usually when I get excited, I tend to release my aura," said Salazar sincerely.

The pretty girl who was in pain moments ago smiled kindly at him and replied, "It was my fault. I thought that since the place wasn't crowded, I could afford not to restrain my gift. I'm Helga Hufflepuff by the way."

They shook hands and Helga invited them to sit at their table. Helga had blond hair, light blue eyes and a petite body. Harry got their things and sat down, excitement filling him at the prospect of meeting the future founders of Hogwarts. Salazar was the first to speak. "My name is Salazar Slytherin and this is my best friend Harry."

"I'm Rowena Ravenclaw, it's nice to meet you both," said Rowena with a grin, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. She was a very beautiful girl; she had midnight black hair, grayish blue eyes, and a lean body.

The other wizard introduced himself as well. He was very well built, with dark red hair and brown eyes. "I'm Godric Gryffindor. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I couldn't help but overhear you talk about wanting to build a school, which was what made me excited by the way. I've always wanted to build a school for children to learn magic instead of apprenticing or learning from their _family,_" said Salazar , pronouncing the last part with a bitter tone, which went unnoticed by all except Harry.

"The only problem is the lack of land and magical skill. Between the five of us, the magical skill problem is solved. However, where can we find a land to build the school on?" asked Godric thoughtfully. Harry thought that he could ease the process of looking for a land for them and replied. "There is a large piece of land not far from here. We could purchase it and build the school on it."

"But that land would cost a lot of money, and we don't have much of that either," said Rowena with a sigh.

Salazar leaned over and spoke softly in Harry's ear. "How did you know where the land would be, Harry?"

Harry glared at Salazar for daring to say such a thing with the other people sitting beside them but he still replied, whispering softly. "It is one of the things that I told you I can't tell you about, Salazar."

Sal's eyes widened at what Harry was implying but smiled fully, earning himself confused looks from the other three. He looked at them and replied, "We have enough money to buy the land where the school would be built." The eyes of the other three widened but grinned at each other.

They finished their lunch and went to the property owner to see about the land being bought. It was a strange moment for Harry, seeing the lake, forest and Hogsmeade but no castle. After a lot of convincing and bargaining, the man finally decided to sell them the land with money, which cost almost all Salazar's and Harry's money. Thus, the five teens began the plan to build the school that would be Harry's favourite home in one thousand years.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **Believe it or not, no money is being made through this as all characters etc that you recognize belong to Madame Rowling. Anything else is, most obviously, property of Egyptian Flame unless stated otherwise. Egyptian Flame does not have an army of lawyers like the aforementioned literary genius but that doesn't mean to say he hasn't got an army…

**Chapter 4:**

Harry was sleeping in his bed the next day when he sensed someone in the room. They had built temporary huts on the grounds until they built Hogwarts, instead of spending money on rooms that they would have occupied for years. Awareness was something that the assassins had taught him so that he may be alert if someone tried to kill him in his sleep. They had taught him to extend his awareness for twelve feet around him to sense if there was anyone in the same room as him and he had continued to expand the distance every time he meditated or fell asleep. He always slept with a dagger in a wrist holster in one arm and his wand in another.

Harry was aware that Salazar knew better than to sneak up on him in his sleep and he knew what Salazar's aura felt like well enough to know that this wasn't it. He heard a sigh then a soft hand approached his face but before it could touch, Harry had the person under him, with a dagger to the attacker's neck and his wand quivering. He blinked when he saw Rowena's frightened face look up at him then at the dagger that was so close to her neck that it almost touched her skin. Harry sheathed his dagger and re-holstered his wand with a sigh, practicing occlumency to calm his thundering heart.

"Don't ever sneak up on me like that again, Rowena. I almost killed you," breathed Harry, calming down a little. Rowena shivered she felt his hot breath on her face but Harry did not notice. She admired his bare chest and blushed when she realized that Harry was sleeping in only his boxers.

"Good morning to you too," said Rowena sarcastically. Harry grinned down at her and looked outside his room. It was still night and with a wave of his wand, the time appeared in front of him.

5:30 a.m.

"Harry, I know you'd like me to be under you but I'm having trouble breathing," teased Rowena, making Harry blush. He stood up and realized that he was only wearing his boxers and his blush deepened, making Rowena laugh. He waved his wand and his clothes flew to him and with another wave, he was dressed in them.

"Why the hell are you waking me up at five in the morning?" groaned Harry.

Rowena blushed from her place on his bed and murmured, "Godric and Helga forgot to cast silencing charm on their room so I couldn't sleep."

"What do you mean silencing ch- oh," said Harry as realisation dawned. He did not know that they were a couple as they had not shown any form of affection in front of him.

"We're so going to create our own secret chambers. It's hell when they forget the silencing charm and don't warn me so I start on walking in on them." She shuddered as she remembered walking in on them at one time when they were travelling together. Harry's eye widened a bit when Rowena mentioned secret chambers but did not say anything.

"You didn't answer my question. Why the hell did you wake me up?" said Harry and conjured himself a cup of coffee.

Rowena blushed again and replied, smiling innocently, "I was bored."

Harry glared at her from behind his coffee, making her giggle. She couldn't stop thinking about Harry's eyes and chest, this in itself caused a blush to appear on her face again but this time Harry noticed.

"And why are you blushing Ms. Ravenclaw?" teased Harry with a chuckle, making Rowena go crimson. She took out her wand and proceeded to hex him.

"Come on, Row, I was only joking," said Harry, dodging Rowena's hex. She stopped and raised an eyebrow, much like Salazar's reaction when he called him Sal but not exactly the same reaction.

She pounced on him, successfully pinning him on the ground and growled, her lips near his, "Don't call me Row." Harry grinned, pecked her quickly on the lips and disappeared from under her, appearing a few meters away.

"You're going to die, Harry." She got her wand again and sent a few hexes his way. He dodged all except one, which caught Salazar as he entered Harry's room, making his nose bigger. He saw Harry hiding behind a table and jumped towards him, hiding from the angry witch.

"What the hell did you do, brother?" Salazar asked. Harry explained quickly as he dodged Rowena's curses and Salazar laughed gruffly. Salazar fixed his nose and Harry sent sparks, making Rowena stop for a second.

"Okay, I'm very sorry Rowena," said Harry. He gave her the most adorable puppy dog eyes he could muster, which made her giggle and her face soften.

"If you ever do that again, Harry, I will hex you so much that you won't be able to reproduce again," said Rowena dangerously, making both of them wince and Harry gulp. She grinned and went to the door, turning before she left and said grinning, "You're going down, Harry."

Salazar turned to Harry and said chuckling, "Don't mess too much with her, Harry. You'll only shorten your life span." He laughed as Harry threw a pillow at him. Salazar headed for his room "I'm going back to sleep, Harry. Try a silencing charm please."

Harry went outside and saw Rowena sitting at the edge of the lake, staring at the stars. He approached stealthily and sat down behind her, admiring her beauty, which seemed to be ethereal as the moonlight fell on her face. He wrapped his arms around her shoulder, which made her jump, but relaxed when she saw that it was Harry.

"I'm sorry," said Harry, "I have no experience when dealing with beautiful ladies." She nodded her head and relaxed in Harry's embrace, relishing the warmth of his body and blushing when she heard what he said.

"You think I'm beautiful, Harry?" asked Rowena softly.

"I've never imagined I would see anything beautiful in my life," said Harry, "but you proved me wrong, Row." She turned in his embrace and locked his lips with her own. Harry felt electric as the passionate kiss endured. Harry never thought kisses such as this was possible since his wet kiss with Cho in his fifth year.

"Wow," breathed Harry

"Wow," echoed Rowena.

They kissed again, this time the passion spread like fire in their bodies. The kisses lasted for a while and when they broke it again, they were in need of breath. They sat in each other's arms, watching the sunrise and talking about their lives. Harry decided to tell her what he'd told Salazar since he needed her help in going back to his time. To his surprise, tears were spilling down her face as she learned that he was from the future and about his destiny.

"So that's why you didn't mention your last name," Rowena said as she calmed down. "But… I don't want you to go."

"I don't want to, Rowena, but I have a duty to my friends and family and my place isn't here," Harry replied softly.

It took them five years of hard work to build the school and Harry still hadn't mentioned anything about his time travelling to Godric and Helga. One would have thought that they would ask about his last name by now or his past but thankfully, their attention was elsewhere.

Salazar and Harry invested in some companies and shops that were which Harry knew would be prosperous in the future. Harry was surprised when he encountered goblins who were building what would be Gringotts bank. They were very respectful when they saw Harry's tattoo that the goblin he saved had given him. Harry invested in the bank, which the goblins were grateful for since they needed money to build the bank.

Rowena had worked on creating a spell to send Harry to his own time and, much to her dismay, she was making progress with it. Their relationship had flowered in the past five years and Harry knew in his heart that he loved Rowena and that Rowena loved him. Salazar watched with sadness as his brother's time was almost up, it was only a matter of time until Rowena succeeded in creating the spell.

It was with glowing pride that the 25 year old Harry Potter stood in front of the newly built Hogwarts along with his best friends, his brother and girlfriend. Godric and Helga had married and had a boy that they named Artemis and Salazar had a girlfriend named Gwen, who he was very much in love with. Harry stood with his arms around Rowena, watching the magnificent castle, which he never thought he would help build.

He assumed that it took more than five years when only four people built it and his knowledge of every secret passage excited him to no end. There was a secret passage to practically everywhere and every one of them created a secret chamber and kept the whereabouts hidden.

Even Harry had created a secret chamber for himself where he put all the books he had acquired through his journeys and some books he wrote himself about what he learned during his and Salazar's trips. It was when they were discussing the system which the school would be following that Harry decided to come clean with his secret. They were discussing making houses and sorting their favourite students in them.

"I'm going to take the brave and fearless students in my house," said Godric proudly, adjusting his hat.

"And I'm going to take the cunning and ambitious" said Salazar.

"The bright and smart scholars will be mine," said Rowena from her place in Harry's lap.

"Figures."

"Shut up Salazar."

"And I will take the loyal and the hard working. Every body has equal chance of learning magic in my eyes."

"What about you, Harry?" asked Godric. Rowena felt Harry tense and knew why.

"I can't have a house."

"Of course you can. You are the fifth founder of this school, you must have a house and choice of students," said Helga, shifting Artemis in her arms. Salazar and Rowena exchanged a look, wondering how he was going to respond.

"I think it's time I tell you where I come from and about my past," said Harry softly and began to tell his tale. By the time Harry had finished, Helga was pale and Godric was fuming with anger.

"Why the hell didn't you tell us?" yelled Godric. "We're your friends for Merlin's sake. We trusted you and this is how you repay us? Was this all a lie? You have no idea how I feel right now, Harry." Salazar had had enough of Godric's shouting and stood up.

"Sit down Gryffindor!" Salazar yelled, his voice laced with venom. Godric sat down in shock. In the five years they had known Salazar, he had never raised his voice or shouted at anyone. For the first time since Harry knew Salazar, he saw him with tears in his eyes. Salazar was never the one to show emotions and never cried in front of Harry or behind his back and to see his friend and brother like this stunned Harry.

"Sit down and shut up Gryffindor. You know nothing. Rushing blindly into everything! _You_ are the one who has no idea how _I_ live knowing that my brother will leave any day. I've known Harry, lived with him, practiced with him, laughed with him for almost ten years. HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL?" yelled Salazar, tears freely falling on his face. "How do you think Rowena feels when she's been developing a spell that would send the only person she ever loved away from her? Don't ever believe that you're hurt more than us you selfish ass."

Godric sat astonished as Salazar finished talking. He had never thought about what Salazar and Rowena might feel about the situation, knowing that the person they care about the most was going to leave them. Harry went and hugged Salazar, as he never realized how much pain his friend and his girlfriend were in about him leaving. He then went and hugged Rowena, who was crying and shaking. He rubbed her back and murmured soothing words to her every now and then. Rowena shook her head, which was still in his chest and looked at him in the eye.

"Rowena, we talked about this. You know I have a duty to my people and you know what would happen if I stayed and left them without protection. And we still have a lot of time till you finish creating the spell," said Harry softly, kissing his girlfriend's forehead.

Rowena cried harder and Salazar paled. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Salazar's grim face looking at him and said something that made Harry's blood turn ice.

"She's already created the spell."

They applied the wards on the school after a week of building it. Harry was amazed at the defences that the school had and knew why Dumbledore put a lot of faith in them. Salazar and Harry added blood wards on the school, along with every ward they knew. Harry came up with an idea when they were applying the wards to defend against Dementors. However, the only problem was that it had to be triggered by a spell which Harry created, so Dumbledore could not have known anything about this ward. In addition, when Harry was studying the wards, he realized that the headmaster of the school would only carry a small amount of wards, so there was no immediate danger should the headmaster of the school die.

Salazar and Harry performed two rituals during the time they were building the school. One of the rituals was to drastically increase their magical power, which Harry was grateful for and the other ritual was one that meant the whole world to Harry.

The second ritual made Harry and Salazar blood brothers. They were capable of knowing what the other was feeling and were capable of sharing anything from magical knowledge to regular memories. Harry refused to share his regular memories with Salazar since it could change Harry's future if Salazar knew anything and they could even share magical power if they desired.

The five friends and founders of the school had cast a spell on the school which made the school sentient. The main wards were tied to Hogwarts herself so it would be impossible for anyone to bring them down. They finished casting the wards after two weeks, which was a record since the five wizards were practically living on energy potions. It was dangerous but it was the only way for them to finish on time.

After a while, Godric apologized to Salazar and Harry for his behaviour and they gladly accepted. Salazar and Harry were sitting in the chamber of secrets, which only they knew about, discussing what Harry was going to do when they have enough energy to cast the time spell.

"Harry, I want to come with you," said Salazar suddenly.

"You cannot come with me, Salazar. Firstly, it's not your time and secondly you have a bloodline to carry on which would create changes in the future if you don't have a kid," explained Harry softly, wishing it was that easy. Salazar sat thinking for a while before he said something which made Harry's eyes widen.

"He's my heir." Harry did not reply and looked the other way which confirmed Salazar's statement. Salazar sighed and stood up, venting out his frustration on the wall.

"It's not fair," yelled Salazar, hitting the wall repeatedly.

"No one said life is fair, Sal. I hate the fact that I have to leave you here but it is not in my hands to decide. It's not easy for me to leave you or Rowena but it's what I have to do." said Harry, putting a hand on Salazar's shoulder. Salazar sat on the floor, hugging his knees to his chest. Suddenly Salazar stood up grinning and ran out of the Chamber.

When Harry saw Salazar's grin, he knew that something bad was going to happen. He wanted to know what Salazar was planning but he knew his friend would not tell him even if it meant his death. When Salazar decided to plan something, no one would be able to find out what it was until it happened.

It took the five friends three months to regain their energy to cast the time spell that would take Harry to his time. It required the traveller to have something that tied him to the time he was travelling to or the spell would not work. Harry had put everything in his secret chamber at Hogwarts along with a powerful preservation charms on them and locked the room with his own password. The others were out on the grounds waiting for him and he did not want to make them wait longer than necessary, thus making the pain of leaving them increase. Salazar was the first one to reach him when he came out and gave him a potion.

"Harry, this potion will make you de-age physically to the age which you came here. It would be gone by the time you reach the same age again in your time or if you cancel it," Salazar said before hugging him tightly. Helga was next and she embraced him warmly, tears streaming down her face.

"I'll miss you my friend," Helga said while releasing him. She took a pendant from around her neck and put on Harry's, and kissed his forehead.

"It will protect you and it's something for you to remember me by," Helga said and hugged him again. Harry touched the pendant and felt warmth enter his heart. He felt the sibling love that he'd always longed for. He had tears in his eyes and for the first time, he regretted going back to his time. Godric stepped forward, hugged Harry gruffly and gave him a ring.

"I'm touched Godric but you're already married," said Harry, making Godric roll his eyes and the others laugh.

"This ring will enable you to enter my mansion. I've keyed it so that the only way to enter the mansion is by this ring. I want you to live there," said Godric. Harry was touched by what Godric went through for him to do this and hugged the other man.

"Thank you Godric, you don't know how much this means to me," replied Harry softly.

"It's the least I could do for family, Harry." Godric said, making Harry smile, feeling touched and moved by what Godric said. Harry took out his sword, which he knew he couldn't take with him and passed his hand on the sword, triggering an illusion rune inscribed on the sword and disabling another which made anyone able to use it. There were many runes on it, one to keep it sharper, one to keep it light for its user, one that made only Harry can use it and one for illusion, which Harry added recently. The illusion changed the name from Harry Potter to Godric Gryffindor, which made the others frown, and Godric look at Harry in confusion.

"Why did you inscribe my name, Harry?" said Godric confused at his action. Harry gave the sword to Godric and smiled.

"Keep it safe for me, Godric," said Harry softly. "I'll look out for it in the future."

Godric smiled and accepted the sword, putting it in its sheath. He turned to Rowena, who, surprisingly, was smiling, as if Harry had changed his mind and decided to stay, which made Harry confused. Rowena stepped forward and kissed him passionately on the lips, which he returned, wrapping his arms around her waist. They pulled apart and Harry said softly "You are not making it easier for me to leave, Row." Rowena embraced him tightly in a hug, which Salazar joined.

"We'll see you soon, my brother"

Before Harry registered these words, the spell was performed and he disappeared in a flash of blinding white light. He appeared and the implications of what they said, dawned on him.

"Oh shit."

**TBC…**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: _**Return and Rescue**_

Harry cursed in different languages as he realized what Salazar had planned to do. He only hoped that Salazar would marry and have a baby or it will be the end of Harry's future. He now knew why Salazar had insisted on performing the blood brothers ritual and cursed the cunning of his friend.

The spell required that the caster or the one on the receiving end of the spell to have any ties with the time he wanted. Salazar had a blood bond that would enable him to travel to Harry's time easily, but Harry wondered about Rowena.

He shook his head and cleared his thoughts, leaving the problem until it presents itself in the future. He looked around him and noticed that he was in the ruins of the scientist's house. He waved his wand and muttered 'Tempus' to determine the time. It was October 15, 1996. He sighed in relief, seeing that he landed in the right timeline but his eyes widened as he saw the date. He was missing since the first half of July, just after the will reading. He wondered if the order and his friends were looking for him or not, seeing that he was away for four months.

He moved out of the house, his trunk in his pocket and Hedwig on his shoulder, but the realization that the scientist died in the explosion hit him. He felt his bond with Salazar de-activate and his link with Voldemort come alive again. What he liked and hated about the bonds of Salazar and Voldemort that they remained even through the massive time travel he went through.

Building up his mental walls, Harry blocked the link from being used or detected by Voldemort, something he learned during his travels with Salazar. Sadly, he found no spell, potion or ritual that would cut the link and the only way of removing it was by killing one of the linked wizards.

"Well, I still have time before announcing myself," Harry said before closing his eyes in concentration and bringing his both hands together, as if praying. With a few murmured sentences, a glow appeared in front of his eyes and began to take shape.

After a few minutes, a raven solidified in front of his eyes and cooed softly. Harry smiled and rubbed the raven's chest for a few moments before taking out his wand. The raven was a result of a successful summoning, an art that Harry had learned throughout his studies with different tribes.

It enabled the caster to summon a creature to do what he wanted. The larger the creature, the harder the summoning would be on the caster and the farther the creature's place, the harder to summon. Harry decided on a raven since they were the next creatures after owls that would deliver a message. He decided to write a letter, to settle his friend's worry over his death so they would expect his return.

_Dear Old Man,_

_Do not lose hope yet. When courage's weapon is on fire and the walls are excited, it will mark my arrival. _

_Mischief managed._

Harry knew that Dumbledore would understand what Harry was talking about in the letter, but he could not risk letting Voldemort know of Harry's survival yet. He tied it to the raven's leg, which gave a bow to Harry and flew away. It was 7 p.m. so Harry decided to plan a rescue that occupied Harry's mind since he time-traveled to the past. He placed Godric's ring on his finger and tapped it with his wand, saying the activation password.

"Take me to Ancient and Powerful House of Gryffindor."

He arrived in front of a gate of a castle, which Harry had only visited once in the past. The gate was adorned with Griffins, rubies and surprisingly a statue of a Dragon with a lightning bolt on its chest on one side and a basilisk on the other side. It was the first time that he had ever seen this symbol and assumed that Godric had put it after he left. He touched the lightning symbol with his wand and waited. He did not have to wait long when a voice echoed around him, coming from the Griffins.

"Enter Lord Harry, friend of Gryffindor."

Harry chuckled at Godric's use of sentient guardians. It was a spell that Harry picked up during his travels and had taught it to Godric. It was an advanced form of animation, which enables the caster to give the animated object other properties beside the obvious ones. He entered the castle grounds and looked around, admiring the beauty of the gardens. It was filled with lilies, roses, and lavenders. Entering the castle, he was greeted by a house elf.

"Good evening, sir. I is Blinky at your service," said the house-elf bowing to Harry.

Harry smiled at the house-elf and replied, "Hello Blinky, my name is Harry. It's nice to meet you." The house-elf's smile grew at Harry's reply and he mentally thanked Godric for freeing the house-elves, who refused to stop serving the Gryffindor family even after they were freed.

"I will have a tour of the castle, Blinky. Can you please unpack my things in the master bedroom?" Harry asked smiling kindly at the little elf. Blinky bowed and disappeared with his trunk and Harry was relieved that the house-elves still occupied the castle, as he did not want to take care of the huge castle by himself.

Although he had toured the castle in the past with Godric, he had missed the homey feeling it gave him when his other friends were with him. After a long tour, he settled in a study trying to come up with a plan to capture Bellatrix or rescue her if she was still imprisoned in the dungeons he saw in his dream. He doubted that Voldemort would imprison her after applying the imperious potion but since it was Voldemort, everything was possible.

After a few hours, he went to sleep purposely allowing the link to activate. He needed to know where Bellatrix was imprisoned, what he came up with was considered the most dangerous and stupid plan to complete. He was going to use legilimency on Voldemort to find the place. He found himself in the same room he was in before, this time Bellatrix was not the only person tied up. He was surprised that after four months, that Bellatrix was still tied up in the same position, in spite of being fed the imperious potion. The other person was in the dark so Harry was unable to find out their identity.

"_Bella," hissed Voldemort. "I don't know how the traitor, Severus, was able to give you the counter potion to the Imperius potion, but he was killed for it. You will be mine, I assure you. I will have it brewed again and you will obey your rightful lord. You will not be able to escape the Malfoy manor, Bella, so don't even try." _

_Voldemort laughed maniacally as Bellatrix's anger appeared on her face. He turned to the other prisoner and hissed "And you, my pet, will be the right tool for the ritual." He left the dungeon cell but not without minutes of Cruciatus to both prisoners. _

Harry woke up with a start, sweating as the dream ended. He cursed when he heard that Snape was killed trying to give Bellatrix the antidote. What confused him was Snape giving Bellatrix the antidote. Moreover, did Dumbledore even know the circumstances behind his spy's death?

He deactivated the link and thanked Merlin that Voldemort was stupid enough to tell the place. The only problem would be the wards surrounding the manor, which would present a problem. He was thinking on how to find the Malfoy Manor when an idea popped into his head.

"Dobby!" As he said the word, the little elf appeared in front of him. Dobby's eye widened and he was hugging Harry's leg in a flash.

"I knew that master Harry Potter sir was not dead as everyone said. I is glad to see you alive, Mr. Harry Potter sir," said the excited elf jumping up and down in front of Harry.

"It's good to see you too, Dobby. I missed you," said Harry kindly, patting the elf on the head. Dobby's eyes widened again and he hugged Harry's leg again.

"Sir is too kind to Dobby. What will Harry Potter require from Dobby?" said the house-elf.

"Dobby I need your help in rescuing someone. And the place where the person is held is your old home." Harry explained to the elf, hoping that he would help him. Dobby's eyes held fear in them as he remembered the Malfoy family and their treatment.

"I need you to take me there, Dobby. You won't stay long at the place, just take me there and leave again," said Harry reassuringly, patting the elf's shoulder. Dobby nodded his head and replied, "I is going to take you there, Harry Potter sir."

Harry sighed as Dobby told him his answer. He was glad, since Dobby was able to bypass the wards on the house since he was an elf. Harry took out his wand and summoned his battle robes, readying himself for any confrontation.

He decided that during the night was a good time to attempt the rescue mission. He looked at his watch and waited until it was 2 a.m. to begin the rescue. He wanted to avoid facing Voldemort in a ground where he would be at a disadvantage. He waved his hand, wandlessly summoning a nearby book towards him, something that resulted from his control on his magic.

Harry's control on his magic increased during the years he spent with the other founders, making him succeed in casting simple basic spells, like the Lumos or summoning charms without a wand. However, after performing the ritual to increase his magic, he had to practice more control to perform any other spells wandlessly.

Currently, he could perfectly perform summoning, banishing and the Lumos charms successfully but he vowed to work on increasing his control, something which Dumbledore and Voldemort were good at. When the watch rested on two, Harry called Dobby who was in the kitchen with the other elves, preparing to leave for Malfoy Manor

"It's time, Dobby. Take me inside the Manor and I will go from there," said Harry to the little elf who grabbed his hand, preparing for the travel. They disappeared from the Gryffindor castle and reappeared in an empty room that contained dusty items.

"The Dungeons are down the stairs across the hall, Master Harry Potter sir. Dobby is going to wait until Harry Potter summons Dobby again for leaving," said Dobby and snapped his fingers, disappearing to thin air. Harry sighed and prepared for a long night. He disillusioned himself and opened the door, looking around for any Death Eaters. He found two Death Eaters who he identified as McNair and Dolohov, guarding the stairs leading two the dungeons. The two Death Eaters were talking to each other and laughing quietly, not paying attention to anything else around them.

'_Well, no one is crazy enough to enter the Headquarters of the Death Eaters voluntarily,' _Harry thought as he approached the two wizards, still disillusioned. He took out both wands and with a wave and spells later, both wizards fell on the floor stunned. Harry passed them and proceeded down the stairs to the Dungeon, encountering booby traps and wards that responded to the Dark Marks. He worked fast as he brought down the wards and dispelled the booby traps, knowing that the stunning of the Death Eaters will be noticed soon.

After what seemed like eternity, Harry arrived at the cell which the prisoners in his dreams where held. He pointed his wand at the cell door and murmured. "_Invenio Externus intentio." _

The cell door glowed red, indicating wards and traps on the door. He pointed his wand at the door again, this time to try to bring down the wards.

"Perfringo claustrum Magicka." The door turned black, indicating the success of the spell.

"Solvo tectum." Another ward was broken. Harry cursed as his performed the spell.

'_The damn cell door has more wards on it than the Ministry of Magic,'_ thought Harry angrily. The spells he was performing on the door were capable of bringing moderate and some powerful wards in one go, but Voldemort was being careful after Snape tried to free Bellatrix and had applied his power into the wards. He pointed his wand again at the door one last time and muttered. "Neco substantia Magicka."

The door groaned and the rest of the wards were brought down, leaving Harry panting heavily. With an 'Alohomora', the cell door opened, allowing Harry entrance to the cell. Bellatrix and the other person were tied at the end of the cell, and they looked to be sleeping. Harry waved his wand, relieving both prisoners from their chains, waking them up with a start.

"Please don't hurt me," Bellatrix mumbled and curled into a ball. Harry bent down beside her and took her in his arms, something that surprised the other witch. Seeing that Harry forgot to take the de-aging potion, Bellatrix was terrified when she saw him.

"James Potter," she mumbled before crouching in a ball again. Harry sighed and went to the other prisoner. It was a girl that Harry had seen before but never talked to her. Her name was Blaise Zabini, a quiet, shy, and beautiful Slytherin that he had classes with, but never interacted with her.

"Blaise, I'm here to get you out. Don't worry," said Harry soothingly. It seemed that luck was not on his side. Blaise backed away, muttering about strange dreams, which made Harry's job even harder.

'_This is going to be a long night,' _Harry thought with a sigh. He decided that this was not going as he wanted and summoned Dobby. The elf was frightened when he appeared in a cell, but calmed down when he saw Harry in front of him.

"Dobby, I'm sorry to have summoned you early but I need you to take these two back to the Castle and then come and get me," said Harry to the elf who nodded and disappeared with Bellatrix and Blaise. Harry felt a ward being applied and tensed, trying to recognize the ward. After a lot of sensing, he gasped in horror when he realized what the ward was.

"Anti-Elf wards? Who the hell would know these wards?" Harry asked loudly to himself.

"I would, Mr. Potter," said the voice, of which Harry was familiar. He turned and looked in the eyes of Lucius Malfoy, gritting his teeth at seeing the second in command of his parents' murderer.

"Mr. Malfoy, Did you enjoy the short vacation in Azkaban?" taunted Harry. The older Malfoy hissed in anger and shot the killing curse at Harry, which he dodged skillfully.

"Crucio," yelled Malfoy at Harry. Harry waved his wand and a chain, which lay on the floor, flew to intercept the curse.

"Abscido legio," sent Harry a limb-paralyzing curse, which Malfoy dodged.

"Avada Kedavra," sent Malfoy in anger, seeing that his curses were either blocked or dodged.

"I fail to see your weak power or knowledge being enough to cast this ward, Malfoy," Harry said, trying to distract the Death Eater. He came up with a plan, which he was sure that Malfoy would not catch.

"Shut up Potter! The great Lord Voldemort was the one to cast this ward, entrusting me with its control as with the other wards," said Malfoy proudly as he blocked a stunner from Harry.

"Oh please! You screwed up by allowing me to rescue the prisoners," said Harry and allowed Malfoy to disarm him, feigning helplessness.

"Your pathetic, Potter" said Malfoy as he caught Harry's wand in his hand.

With a speed of lightning, Harry had his other wand out, "and you're stupid Malfoy, OBLIVIATE EXIMO." The spell caught Malfoy off guard in the face and since Harry did not concentrate on a single memory when doing the spell, all the memories were erased.

Harry sighed in relief, exited the room, and called Dobby to him again. This time, the elf appeared with a panicked face but was relieved when he saw Harry.

"Take us home Dobby," said Harry with a tired smile and Dobby complied and both of them were transported to Gryffindor Castle. As they appeared in the castle, Harry immediately asked about Bellatrix and Blaise.

"They were taken to the Hospital wing of the Gryffindor castle, sir," said Blinky to Harry. He took off towards the hospital wing and arrived to see an elf tending to the two witches.

"I'm sorry Master but I'm not a qualified healer. They need to be treated by a professional wizard or witch," said the elf to Harry before disappearing. It was at times like this that he missed Helga's healing or Salazar's potions. He wished desperately for help and summoned healing books with his wand. He proceeded to apply the spells. Some of the wounds would reopen again after Harry closed them, which made him wish he were at Hogwarts.

In the office of Albus Dumbledore, a bird lifted its head, as if listening to something then disappeared in a flash of flames. With a song, the majestic bird appeared in front of Harry, startling him from his thoughts.

"Fawkes," exclaimed Harry in relief. "I need your help. These girls are hurt and the wounds won't close."

The bird lowered its head on the wounds, healing an injury after another, leaving a relieved Harry. After the phoenix closed the last injury on Blaise, Harry approached the bird and rubbed its chest.

"Thank you Fawkes," Harry said tiredly, patting the bird on the head. "I'm really thankful that you are here." Fawkes trilled softly, rubbing his face in Harry's neck then disappeared in a flash of flames. Harry summoned a vial of post-Cruciatus to him from his trunk and made both witches drink it. Their faces relaxed after drinking the potion, which Harry was thankful for as he passed out on the bed next to them.

In the Malfoy Manor, Voldemort arrived after being notified by a Death Eater that a duel took place. He was enraged at being disturbed but his curiosity to know who infiltrated the supposedly heavy warded and guarded HQ.

As he entered the cell which Bellatrix and the Zabini girl should have been held in, he only found Lucius Malfoy unconscious on the floor. His wand flew to his hand, which he waved, enervating Lucius Malfoy.

"Where am I? Who am I?" asked the blond Death Eater. Voldemort hissed an unknown spell and a vapor appeared above Malfoy's head. Voldemort's red eyes flared and he hissed angrily

"_Avada Kedavra."_

The bright green beam of the killing curse flew from his wand, killing Lucius Malfoy instantly. He knew that the memories were not blocked, but removed, so there was no use of Lucius to him anymore.

"Find who did this and bring him to me," Voldemort hissed and pointed his wand at the Death Eaters, "Excrucio maxima."

All the Death Eaters fell screaming on the floor at the mass Crucio curse. The spell was lifted after thirty seconds and Voldemort hissed again in anger "Find that person NOW."

At Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry the next day, a raven arrived with the morning post and headed towards Albus Dumbledore, who was eating his food and looked every bit his age since the supposed death of Harry Potter. The raven landed in front of the headmaster and extended its leg, presenting the parchment to him. The headmaster relieved the bird of its parchment and was surprised when the raven disappeared in a golden flash, its mission completed.

Dumbledore opened the parchment and read the note. At first, he did not understand the meaning but it dawned on him after a while. For the first time in four months, Albus Dumbledore sat smiling cheerfully and ate his food eagerly.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Die Voldie's Mark Die**

Harry woke up the next day with sore back and a headache. He opened his eyes, observing the room around him as he tried to recall the events of the previous night.

He recalled calling Dobby, going to the Malfoy Manor, saving Blaise and Bellatrix, returning, and Fawkes healing the girls. He groaned when he realized that he forgot to take the de-aging potion Salazar gave him. He looked to the still sleeping girls and sighed. He did not know what he was going to do with them or how they would react when they wake up.

Unfortunately, he did not have to wait long, as both Blaise and Bellatrix were starting to wake up. He sat calmly as they looked around for a minute in panic, not familiar with the place.

Bellatrix had a look of wonder at the beauty of the room, considering that she was held in a dungeon when she was not under the potion and a look of fear that Voldemort might pop any moment and torture her.

Blaise on the other hand closed her eyes after opening them, curled into a ball, and started crying and muttering things barely audible to Harry. He decided to interfere and hurried to her side, trying calm the girl down before she broke down and.

Bellatrix panicked when a man hurried to where she was laying and took the girl in the bed next to her in his arms. She remembered the events that took place in the dungeons and remembered the feeling of Harry taking her in his embrace, comforting her soothingly, something that she longed for every time she was free from the potion.

The Blacks never bothered with physical or any other form of affection, preferring that their sons and daughters grow up not knowing what love is, only loyalty to the family and the Dark lord, the thing she hated the most with all her being.

She remembered the day that led to the Imperius potion as if it was yesterday. The only one who had ever shown her affection was her cousin Sirius, whom she was forced to kill by Voldemort via the potion. The Dark lord had come to their house just before the start of her sixth year and her mother and aunt pledged their loyalty to him that day.

Voldemort was impressed with her power and asked the Black family for Bellatrix to be his apprentice and be his wife later. The Blacks were proud that she was chosen for such a task and she, not wanting to disappoint her mother and not wanting to be killed, accepted. The real dilemma occurred when she was learning under Voldemort's tutelage.

At first, he taught her many things, expanded her knowledge far beyond anyone other dark wizard alive except him, and taught her the darkest of curses and powerful magic he knew. It was when he asked her to show him what she learned under his tutelage, on real human being, that the problems began.

It was Sirius who taught her to love, cherish the human life and he taught her to never take pleasure of hurting somebody. That was what presented the problem. It was when Voldemort ordered her to torture a 7-year-old muggle girl, as a proof of her loyalty and successful learning under his teachings, did the problem occur in the first place. She refused to torture the little helpless girl and that made Voldemort enraged to the point where he was on the verge of killing her. He hated that Bellatrix was extremely talented and a very powerful witch from a pureblood family, but not loyal to him.

He did not want to kill the heir to an old family like the Blacks after killing their second direct heir, Regulus and being refused by the main one, Sirius. It would have affected the loyalty of the pureblood families if they had the heirs of their old pureblood family killed.

It was then that led him to the Imperius potion. Neither Sirius nor the Black family realized that their daughter was under an Imperius potion, which led Sirius to hate her and her family to honor her and their pride shine at the position their daughter was in.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the sobbing and crying stopped; she looked at Blaise to see that she had fallen asleep again in the man's arms. He looked almost like James Potter, which puzzled Bellatrix since James Potter was long dead, leaving an only an almost 16 years old savior.

Harry laid Blaise gently on the bed and headed towards Bellatrix, whom he saw, was wide-awake and watching the display absent-mindedly.

"Hello Bellatrix," said Harry softly. She looked up to Harry's face startled that he knew her name. She tried to recall ever seeing Harry's face but nothing came up so she settled with the question that anyone in her place would ask.

"Am I dead? Are you James Potter?" Bellatrix asked confused and bewildered. Harry chuckled at the question, which made Bellatrix blush in embarrassment and look away. Harry stopped laughing and sat down on the bed facing Bellatrix.

"You're not dead Bellatrix, and I'm Harry Potter," said Harry softly. Her eyes widened and she looked everywhere then looked back at Harry.

"How?" Bellatrix asked, "You look like you are my age."

"It is a very long story for another time. I am also twenty five years old," answered Harry truthfully, wincing at the thought that his friends were only sixteen.

"How?" she asked again, raising her eyebrows. Harry decided it is safe to satisfy her curiosity, so he replied mysteriously, "Time travel."

Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped when she had her reply. Messing with time was a dangerous thing and even getting a time-turner is a complicated and difficult thing. Harry stood up and extended a hand to Bellatrix, smiling softly at her.

"Why don't you accompany me to breakfast, I'm sure that you are hungry."

Bellatrix looked at Harry's extended hand and her stomach growled, much to her embarrassment and Harry's amusement. She blushed and took Harry's hand, as he walked with her to eat breakfast.

"Blinky," Harry called and the house-elf appeared.

"How can I serve Master Harry?" asked the house-elf excitedly.

"Please let me know when Blaise is awake," replied Harry and the elf bowed and disappeared. They reached the beautiful garden of the castle where a table was set for two and an enormous breakfast filled the table. They sat down and Bellatrix looked at the food in wonder but did not make a move to eat. Harry noticed her action and took her hand in his.

"Bella, you're far away from Voldemort and his death eaters. It is okay to eat, drink, or even run around for the sake of having fun. I'm not going to torture you or lock you up," Harry said softly, making her burst into tears.

Harry stood up and was at her side in a second, enveloping her in a hug. He did not understand if Voldemort's name was what made her upset or something else. She became rigid and flinched for a second as she felt Harry's arms around her but relaxed when no harm came to her. She sobbed and cried hard on his shoulder for everything that happened in her life until that moment.

"Shh..." said Harry softly. "It's going to be okay. You're safe now, let it all out."

Living with two girls for five years, one of which was his girlfriend, had helped him somewhat understands about women and their attitudes. He rubbed her back and sighed softly to himself, missing his life with Rowena and Salazar, the brother that had helped him with everything and shared his life with for a decade.

Harry knew that if it was not for his friends and the war with Voldemort, he would have stayed with Rowena in the past, taught at Hogwarts, and lived his life happily but nothing was easy, especially for Harry.

"What is the matter, Bellatrix? Why are you crying again?" Harry asked softly. She calmed herself down enough to produce a full sentence.

"Siriuss…wwass thee... only… one wwwho cccaalled mmeee Bella," Bellatrix stuttered before crying again. "I…killed…him," she said between sobs, making Harry understand what the problem was. He gathered a calming charm in his hand, another charm he was able to do wandlessly, which calmed her down as it touched her shoulder.

"You were under an Imperius potion, Bella. Do not be hard on yourself; even the most powerful wizards would not have managed to overcome the effects of the potion. Voldemort was the one responsible for Sirius' death and he will pay dearly," Harry assured her as he took her in his arms again until she cried herself to sleep.

'_What is it with women and crying themselves to sleep,' _thought Harry as Blinky appeared in front of him.

"Master Harry! Come quick! Miss Blaise is awake and panicking," said the elf quickly, making Harry groan. He took the elf's hand and they appeared in the hospital wing of the castle.

He saw Blaise curled into a ball crying, so he decided to change his appearance. He put an illusion on him so that he appeared the age of sixteen and not twenty-five. He did not want to take the potion yet, not while Voldemort still thought he was dead.

"Blaise," said Harry softly, sitting next to her. "You are perfectly safe here. I won't hurt you." Blaise looked at the familiar face of Harry Potter and launched herself at him, hugging him tightly and crying on his shoulder again. Harry rubbed her back until she calmed down enough to talk.

"Sorry Potter," Blaise apologized softly. Harry shook his head and replied, "Call me Harry." He gave her a smile that she weakly returned.

"Thank you for saving me from that hellhole… Harry," said Blaise with a grateful smile. Harry sighed inwardly in relief that she did not cry herself to sleep again and grinned back at her. '_For God's sake, I hope to eat breakfast anytime soon.' _

"You're most welcome, Blaise. How about having some breakfast? I do not think you've ate anything for the past few days," suggested Harry. They ate breakfast at the table in the garden and Bellatrix joined them after a while, as she calmed down after her talk with Harry.

They sat in the sun after eating their breakfast, breathing clean air for the first time in weeks, a tremendous change from the dungeons they were held in. Harry removed the illusion and decided to trust Bellatrix and Blaise with the knowledge of how he came to be a 25 years old.

"It was four months ago that I had a vision about Voldemort talking about the Imperius potion and giving it to Bellatrix. I was angry with Dumbledore for keeping me at the house of my aunt and uncle, who hated magic and me in particular more than a house-elf hating freedom. He always manipulated me in the past, leaving me with abusing muggles although he knew of their hatred towards magic, preventing me from being in Slytherin house which the hat would have decided on.

Hagrid took me on my eleventh birthday, telling me I was a wizard and that my parents did not die in car crash like my relatives used to tell me, all the while telling me that Slytherin is bad and Gryffindor is the best. He left me to face danger every year at Hogwarts and then forcing me to return to my relatives every summer. I decided that I had had enough with Dumbledore controlling my life and making my decisions so I packed my things and decided to run away." Harry paused, then continued after a few moments, having both witches' attention.

"At the same time, a Muggle scientist moved a few houses away because they kicked him out of his work. He wanted to create a time machine and his researches and theories were almost complete with only a link missing.

He invited me inside and showed me his almost completed machine. Voldemort had decided to check in on me with a bit of pain through our connection, which made my magic react violently. It happens that the missing link for the time machine was apparently, Magic. I was thrown in the past, where I stayed for 10 years, thus my older looks."

Both girls had their jaws hit the floor from what Harry told them. It was almost surreal, yet it explained everything that happened and his looks. Bellatrix was the first one to break the silence and ask questions.

"Where are we? What time did you land in? What did you do those ten years?" Bellatrix asked excitedly, then blushed when Harry raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

"We are in my home, which is the Gryffindor ancestral home. I will not tell you the time I landed in until I decide on what to do next. I learned, enjoyed my life, traveled around the world, and had a beautiful relationship with a beautiful witch," replied Harry, saying no more about the subject. He needed to decide on what to do next before telling anyone what happened to him.

Both girls' eyes widened as they heard about his relationship but said nothing. They talked for a while, Blaise telling Harry about her past until Voldemort kidnapped her. Bellatrix told Harry about her almost non-existent life, starting from when she was a kid until her 16th birthday and Voldemort's offer. Harry's eyes widened when he heard that Voldemort taught Bellatrix but he said nothing until she finished her story with tears spilling down her face. '_No wonder she was the most feared dark witch after Voldie himself" _Harry thought as he observed the woman in front of him.

"What are you going to do now, Bella?" Harry asked curiously.

"I don't know, I…I don't want to go back near him again," replied Bella, shaking her head. She was about to continue when pain erupted in her left arm, which carried the dark mark. She began screaming which made Harry jump with his wand in his hand. He waved his wand and the sleeve flew away, exposing her arm and the Dark Mark, which was black. He heard the snake hissing something that made his blood boil.

"Sssservant will die," it hissed. Harry decided to perform a powerful art of magic that he only read about, but never practiced. It was called aura magic, an art that was lost to the wizard kind, with the exception of two people. Salazar and Harry received a book about the magic from the tribe leader whose daughter Thanatos Slytherin kidnapped. He deemed them worthy of such knowledge and made them swear an oath on to never use in any evil way.

Harry closed his eyes and extended his aura, connecting it to Bellatrix. He searched and found the dark part of her soul, which contained the Dark mark. He attacked the mark viciously with his magic, containing it and keeping it from killing Bellatrix. He summoned a large part of his magic, battling with Voldemort's magic and trying to remove it.

Although she was a powerful witch, being in Azkaban for 14 years made her body extremely weak. Harry's frustration reached its limit and remembered something which he thought might work.

He searched for a happy memory, which he found quiet easily and transferred the happy feeling through his magic. As soon as his magic touched Voldemort's, it seemed to burn away the evil magic in Bellatrix's soul, making the evil magic shrink back.

With a new vigor, Harry's magic battled with Voldemort's in a matter of power and will, until another foreign magic entered Bella's body. Harry was about to attack it when he recognized the aura, which helped him win the battle of magic. Soon, all Voldemort's dark energy left Bella's body completely, making Harry and Bella pass out from exhaustion.

Harry woke up to a hand holding his, and recognized the aura, the same aura that helped him earlier with overcoming Voldemort's possession of Bellatrix through the mark. He opened his eyes to see Blaise holding his hand and reading a book, trails of tears on her face. On the next bed was Bellatrix, sleeping peacefully, free from Voldemort's mark for the first time since she was a teenager.

"How did you enter Bella's aura?" asked Harry, sitting in his bed. Blaise hugged him as he announced himself being awake and removed her hand from his, blushing deeply.

"You were sweating and Bellatrix was screaming, so I laid my hand on your shoulder to support you and found myself inside her body. I felt my magic and saw yours fighting the dark energy, so I helped you" she said and looked at Bellatrix, then back at Harry.

"Can I ask you something, Harry?" said Blaise softly, looking at the ground.

"Of course," he replied smiling weakly.

"I have no where to go after Voldemort killed my parents. The Slytherins who support Voldemort will kill me if I go back to Hogwarts. Can I stay with you?" Her question was almost inaudible but Harry heard her.

"You are welcome to stay as long as you want Blaise. You can live here until you decide on what you want to do next, but do not leave the castle without telling me where you are going. Voldemort will not rest until he captures you again; he needs you to do his ritual." Harry said, all the while thinking that he almost sounded like Dumbledore, with all his 'stay safe and I will have guard for you thing' but Blaise nodded her head and kissed Harry on the cheek, blushing.

"Thank you, Harry," she replied with a grin.

Bellatrix woke up several hours later, to find Harry in a chair next to her reading a book and several vials of potions next to him. He looked up from the book when he heard her wake up, and grinned at her.

"How do you feel?" said Harry, opening a vial of potion and giving it to her. She felt the pain leave her body and was grateful for it, since the pain of the mark left her very sore.

"Complete and peaceful," she replied, sighing in content. She wondered why Voldemort was not hurting her again through the mark, which made her check her left arm. Tears of joy filled her eyes when she saw the absence of the mark and saw Harry grinning widely at her.

She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him on the lips. Harry felt like he was on fire, much like when he was kissing Rowena. The name flashed in his mind like lightning, which made him pull back from the kiss.

Bella was in heaven when Harry responded to her kiss, but the heavenly feeling was short lived as Harry pulled back as if in shock. She was beaming in happiness when she saw self-loathing appear on his face. Her happy face vanished almost immediately, fearing the worst. It almost made her cry to see his self-loathing expression, wondering why it appeared on the handsome face of the powerful wizard in front of her.

'_Oh God, I am betraying Rowena. I can't do this' _Harry thought to himself. He hated himself for liking the kiss. He hated himself for enjoying another woman's kiss when his girlfriend was in the past, missing his presence and his love.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Bella asked softly. She feared that he would leave her or return her back to the Voldemort's dungeons, rejecting her for making a move.

"I can't do that, Bella. I have a girlfriend, who I am in love with. I can't have feelings for another, I can't betray her like that," Harry exclaimed to Bella, whose hopeful face left her as Harry finished talking.

"But she is in the past, Harry," said Bella. "You have to move on." He shook his head and replied, looking at her.

"She's coming, Bella. I can't do this, I can't."


End file.
